We do things a little differently here in Richmond. Not for us the noisy rallies, the crowds of people, the signs in the big public square. On Monday night, we gathered at the Richmond Jewish Community Federation’s Israel Solidarity Rally (and you can still donate here if you so desire). There were about four hundred people there, many of them middle-aged and older, though a fair amount of children and young parents. There were also a group of teenagers who had just come back from a trip in Israel, and some young Israelis who work as counselors at the JCC summer camp. One had just finished serving in the Golan Heights a short time ago; he gave a short, heartfelt speech about how if he was called back as a reserve, he would go with a fuller heart knowing that we American Jews stand in support of him and his countrymen.
There is something about being in a room filled with Jews that makes my mind wander over Jewish history, which is a history filled with sorrow. I always seem to come back to the thought that our enemies want us to simply—cease. They don’t want us to gather together and celebrate our holidays, our life events, our day-to-day things. They want Jews to be a part of history—literally.
And yet, all these thousands of years later, we’re still here. Our way of life continues. We read the Torah every week, and we bring our children up in the ancient traditions.
One of the speakers at the Richmond rally was my friend (and former co-editor of my synagogue newsletter), a semi-retired rabbi who seems to always be insisting he’s going to become a fully-retired rabbi. He read the following from Isaiah:
8The Lord has sworn by His right Hand,
By His mighty arm:
Nevermore will I give your new grain
To your enemies for food,
Nor shall foreigners drink the new wine
For which you have labored.
9But those who harvest it shall eat it
And give praise to the Lord;
And those who gather it shall drink it
In My sacred courts.
10Pass through, pass through the gates!
Clear the road for the people;
Build up, build up the highway,
Remove the rocks!
Raise an ensign over the peoples!
11See, the Lord has proclaimed
To the end of the earth:
Announce to Fair Zion,
Your Deliverer is coming!
See, his reward is with Him,
His recompense before Him,
12And they shall be called “The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord,”
And you shall be called, “Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.”
I am not the most religious of Jews. But I do believe that Gd will never forsake His Chosen people. Remember our Israeli friends and family in your prayers, particularly on this Shabbat.
Hazak ve’ematz: Be strong and of good courage (Joshua; 1: 6, 7, 9, 18).
(* (and you can still donate here if you so desire) *)
I do wish that more of these websites had Paypal (Like this one) as a way to transfer funds as I do not like to type in Credit Card #’s on the internet.
In the past (as in 2 years ago or later) I have typed Credit Card numbers on the internet. Unfortunately, I have had too many experiences where I would check for spyware (before the purchase), do the transaction, and then, when I check for spyware (sometimes immediately after the transaction) a little later, I would find a spyware program.
Paranoid? Thats for you to decide.
If there is one thing I am ‘paranoid’ about, it is spyware (Spam is only one sliver of the whole genre) as I believe that the most creative spyware programmers (hackers who have grown up and decided to make money instead of erasing hard-drives) do not get caught by the anti-spyware programs.
When I purchased this laptop (the one that I am typing on), one of the very first things I did was to set up my Paypal Account thereby typing in my checking account number for the “one and only time”.
The next time I purchase a laptop, I’ll set up my Amazon Account as I like the anonymity that amazon gives you (thanks for the pointer, Meryl).